In the wake of Taylor Hawkins’ untimely passing, stars across the globe have paid tribute to the legendary Foo Fighters drummer.
Struck with the same grief as his long-time fans, musicians around the world have taken to social media, and the live stage, to pay tribute to Taylor Hawkins; the legendary Foo Fighters drummer who tragically passed on Friday (March 25) in Colombia.
The band’s announcement of this shocking news came the following day and was met with a swarm of heartfelt tributes in honour of the late musician’s legacy. Among them were Miley Cyrus, Coldplay, Elton John, and Stereophonics; all of whom made musical dedications to Hawkins during their live shows over the weekend.
“My show tomorrow is dedicated to Taylor Hawkins,” wrote Miley on Instagram Stories, before her Lollapalooza set in Brazil on Saturday, which she was originally scheduled to perform alongside Foo Fighters. Adding a picture of Hawkins drumming, she wrote, “this is how I’ll always remember you.”
In a later post, the global pop star shared a link to The Pretenders’ track, Brass In Pocket. She captioned it, “my favourite memory with Taylor is dancing around his drum kit while he played along to this song. Playing it on repeat imagining us laughing… Love forever.”
Currently, on their Music For The Spheres world tour, Coldplay’s Chris Martin dedicated a performance of Everglow to Taylor Hawkins during a live show in Mexico, on the eve of his death.
“We heard that a friend of ours in a great, great band called the Foo Fighters has passed away,” announced Chris. “We weren’t sure whether to talk about it in this concert but we have to because they’re our friends and we care about them. We feel like we should send love to the Foo Fighters, because we all knew Taylor, their drummer, who was a beautiful beautiful man, and so we’re gonna play this song for the Foo Fighters.”
During a Saturday night show at Wells Fargo Arena in Iowa, Elton John dedicated a performance of his 1974 hit, Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me to Taylor Hawkins.
Speaking on the drummer’s passing, the renowned singer-songwriter said: “I was so shocked because he played on my Lockdown Sessions.” He added, “it seems so sad that at 50 years of age we’ve lost someone that had that much passion. And it makes me so downhearted for his family and his three children, his wife, his other relatives, and of course the Foo Fighters have lost a dearest loved one that can never ever be replaced.”
Welsh band, Stereophonics performed a stripped-back, ballad-style cover of Foo Fighters’ 2005 single, Best Of You at their Brighton Centre gig on Saturday night. They dedicated the rendition to Hawkins’ memory, to the Foo Fighters, and to the late drummer’s family.
Lead singer Kelly Jones stated that they’d “met Taylor a few times.” He also solemnly mentioned, “we’ve all been in that position in this band, where we’ve lost a band member.” After the show, the group posted live footage of the cover, and included the caption, “our thoughts and prayers to his family and bandmates.”
RIP Taylor – our thoughts and prayers to his family and bandmates. pic.twitter.com/sx9JkQOJav
— stereophonics (@stereophonics) March 26, 2022
Despite the weight of this loss, we know that Taylor Hawkins’ legacy will never be forgotten, thanks to the countless number of musicians he inspired, worked with and brought joy to throughout his incredible career.
“His music will live on, but I can tell you he was a great, great guy,” said Elton John. “he was one of the nicest people you could have ever met, and one of the greatest drummers, and a true musician who loved all sorts of music, and loved life.”
